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According to what Sears mentions, food itself represents, if well chosen and consumed, the most powerful drug known to man.
The key principles of the Zone Diet are:
- Control of eicosanoids (prostaglandins, prostacyclines, thromboxanes, leukotrienes etc.); some of them perform positive functions such as contrasting the inflammatory response, favoring vasodilation, reducing platelet aggregation, immune pro-development, etc. Others, related to the most widespread contemporary pathologies, play a "negative" role, behaving as pro-inflammatory, promoting platelet aggregation, vaso-constricting and depressing the immune system.
- Control of the hormone insulin: anabolic and fattening
- Hormone control glucagon: catabolic and responsible for the depletion of energy reserves (sugars and fats)
Ultimately, the zone diet must be calculated using an energy distribution that respects the balance of eicosanoids and the hormones insulin and glucagon; the percentages of macro-energetics are:
- Carbohydrates 40%
- Protein 30%
- Lipids 30%
The zone diet also includes other FUNDAMENTAL RULES for reaching the "psycho-physical wellness zone", namely:
- Time between meals equal to or less than 5 hours (total, 5 meals / day)
- Elimination of foods that contain refined carbohydrates (both simple and complex)
- Withdrawal of carbohydrates from fruits and vegetables (fructose only)
- To promote the right hormonal response, every meal or snack must be composed of all 3 energetic macronutrients
- Dinner must precede sleep by about 2 hours; if the time is longer, it is better to have an additional snack before sleep.
The unit of measurement of the zone diet referred to meals is called BLOCK, suitably divided into carbohydrates, proteins and lipids (40-30-30 of the energy); they, being characterized by a different energy value from each other (CHO 3.75 kcal / g, proteins 4 kcal / g and lipids 9 kcal / g) must be added in different weights to provide 1/3 of each block: CHO 9g + P 7g + L 3g = 1 BLOCK.
recommended are those that provide a good amount of high biological value proteins (lean meats, egg whites, fish, lean fresh cheeses, etc.), unsaturated lipids (fish rich in omega 3, dried fruit rich in omega 6, extra virgin olive oil rich in omega 9 etc.) and low glycemic index carbohydrates (fruit and vegetables rich in fructose and soluble fiber).
On the contrary, the foods not recommended are those that bring high percentages of saturated lipids and cholesterol (fatty and especially red meats, sausages, salted meats, fatty cheeses, some offal, egg yolk, butter, lard, etc.) and refined carbohydrates ( confectionery containing sucrose and all sources of complex carbohydrates such as pasta, bread, rice, other cereals, legumes and potatoes).
: protein foods of the size of the palm of the hand (without fingers and both surface and thickness) should be consumed at each meal followed by a quantity of fruit equal to two closed fists.Finally, to estimate the overall energy share, it is necessary to:
- Estimating fat-free mass (FFM), by indirect methods such as skin scaling or BIA
- Calculate the protein quota based on the coefficient of physical activity (see dedicated tables)
- On it, estimate the amount of protein blocks and then, proportionally, also that of carbohydrates and lipids
- The breakdown of energy at meals is approximately
- Breakfast: 25%
- Snack: 10%
- Lunch: 30%
- Snack: 10%
- Dinner: 25%
- (Possible third snack: 10%, subtracting the energy from lunch and / or dinner)
Zone Diet Example - Day 1
Zone Diet Example - Day 2
Zone Diet Example - Day 3
Zone Diet Example - Day 4
Zone Diet Example - Day 5
Zone Diet Example - Day 6
Zone Diet Example - Day 7